The Australian Media Literacy Alliance (AMLA) defines media literacy as ‘the ability to critically engage with media in all aspects of life.’ This includes critical reflection on the various media we use and circulate to others, but also understanding how and why media are made, and possible impacts on audiences and wider society.

The following ACTF resources will help your students develop media literacy understandings and skills. 

Light and colour learning resource (F-2)

This online resource introduces younger students to how light and colour are used in television to build stories and influence viewers’ moods. The resource includes a recorded 25-minute workshop and activities to extend on the ideas presented in the workshop.

Hardball Series 2 Teaching Toolkit (Year 3-6)

This resource will support Year 3–6 teachers and students to engage with learning tasks for each Content Descriptor in the Australian Curriculum: Media Arts along with the General Capabilities. These learning tasks illustrate how this Emmy-nominated series can be used to teach media understandings and skills in the primary classroom.

Sound design learning resource (Year 4-6)

Through interviews with creatives, behind-the-scenes Hardball clips and short learning tasks, this resource helps students discover the importance of sound design in television. To apply their learning, students can then download our Foley Kit to create their own soundscape.

Virtual learning event: Examining representations in children’s television (Year 5-6)

Register now for this free ACTF x ACMI event for 2022 Media Literacy Week. Through short clips, advice from industry experts and interactive tasks, Year 5 and 6 students will learn how representations of people, places and ideas are intentionally constructed for the screen. They will consider the influence of representations on audiences, why media representations have changed over time, and learn practical tips for crafting representations in their own media making.

Story building and screenwriting learning resource (Years 5-8)

By working through the short learning tasks and video interviews in this online resource, students discover the collaborative nature of storytelling for the screen from MaveriX creators Rachel Clements, Sam Meikle and Isaac Elliot. The resource guides students in developing an original story and script.

The Unlisted Teaching Toolkit (Year 7-10)

This resource supports Year 7 to 10 Media Arts teachers and students to examine how representations of social values and points of view are constructed in teen series, The Unlisted. It suggests ways that teachers can guide students to identify, interpret, analyse and evaluate the text, and become critically aware of the ways that media elements are used to make representations and meaning. This resource also provides strategies for guiding students to produce their own representations that communicate alternative points of view by integrating and shaping technical and symbolic elements using design and production processes.

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